Davante Adams was supposed to fix a years-long issue for the Los Angeles Rams. By signing him in free agency fresh off his release from the New York Jets, Adams was LA’s answer to a role that had only been filled short-term by the likes of Sammy Watkins and Odell Beckham, Jr. The Rams had to cut Cooper Kupp and shed salary in order to fit Adams onto the roster.
The results through six games have been far from ideal.
There are three receivers with at least 32 targets this season that have failed to haul in more than half of their catch opportunities, per Pro Football Focus (PFF) tracking data. This is troubling territory , as the other players included in this list are in danger of being labeled as “washed”.
- Jerry Jeudy, Browns: 44.4% on 45 targets
- Calvin Ridley, Titans: 47.1% on 34 targets
- Davante Adams, Rams: 48.1% on 54 targets
Jeudy and Ridley are both playing with either bad or rookie quarterbacks. Matthew Stafford is throwing Adams his passes, and he’s been one of the best quarterbacks in all of football through six weeks.
It’s difficult to run your offense through a player when it is more likely that targeting them will result in the ball falling to the turf rather than a completion.
Even more concerning is that fact that Adams’ catch rate has dipped in recent years from his career averages, which could be a sign that his best days are behind him:
- 2020* – 78.2%
- 2021* – 74.6%
- 2022 – 59.5% (first season with Raiders)
- 2023 – 60.2%
- 2024 – 63.0% (traded to Jets midseason)
- 2025 – 48.1%
*Aaron Rodgers won MVP for each of the 2020 and 2021 seasons
Many thought the addition of Adams would also be a cure for the Rams’ red zone woes. Surprisingly, Adams has never posted an individual season with a contested catch rate over 50%. It’s worth noting that we are watching his season in this area by far.
- 2021 – 14 of 28 (50.0%)
- 2022 – 15 of 34 (44.1%)
- 2023 – 12 of 34 (35.3%)
- 2024 – 13 of 26 (50.0%)
- 2025 – 4 of 15 (26.7%)
Then there are the drops, and this also seems to the latest indication of a negative trend in Adams’ performance. The veteran has posted only three seasons with a drop rate of more than 10%. The first came in his second year back in 2015. The last two are the most recent seasons in 2024 and 2025:
- 2021 – 4 drops (2.9%)
- 2022 – 6 drops (5.7%)
- 2023 – 9 drops (8.0%)
- 2024 – 10 drops (10.5%)
- 2025* – 4 drops (13.3%)
*It’s worth noting that Adams was only credited with a single drop in this past weekend’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, which is probably a surprising figure to anyone who watched that game.
If you are looking for more reasons to believe that Adams is a declining player, you could also point towards his slowing average yardage created after the catch point. For his career he has averaged 4.7 yards after the catch.
- 2021 – 4.9 yards
- 2022 – 5.0 yards
- 2023 – 3.3 yards
- 2024 – 5.5 yards
- 2025 – 2.8 yards
The Rams need Adams more than ever
If Puka Nacua was healthy, I’d say that the Rams need to explore whether less of Adams might be more in terms of offensive efficiency and production. However, we know Nacua is now “week-to-week” and in danger of missing the Week 7 game against the Jaguars.
The Rams need Adams to step up more than ever without Nacua, though the same can also be said about Tutu Atwell, Jordan Whittington, Terrance Ferguson, and others.
Are Adams’ struggles simply a product of a lack of chemistry with Stafford, which could stem from the quarterback’s missed time in training camp and preseason practices?
I think the more realistic answer is that Adams is on the wrong side of age 30 and no longer performing at the level we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from him, even if he plays admirably in Nacua’s absence.
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